Running Mate

by Katie Ashley

  Barrett flopped down on the side of the bed and kicked off his shoes then pushed himself back on the mattress. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he lay back against the pillows. "Comfy."

  "I'm not sleeping with you," I blurted out.

  "Easy, sweetheart. That was an observation, not a come-on."

  My anxious gaze spun around the room. "This is a suite, right?"

  "Yeah, why?"

  "Because I assumed there would be another room, and more precisely, another bed."

  “I’m sure there is one, if not two more bedrooms on the other side of the suite,” he replied.

  I swept a hand to my heart as I exhaled a relieved breath. “Thank God.”

  A smirk curved on Barrett’s lips. “Afraid to share a bed with me?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Come on, you just about pissed yourself while you were panicking about where the other bedrooms were.”

  “That’s because I’m not accustomed to sleeping with strange men.”

  “I think it’s more about the fact that you were afraid you couldn’t control yourself around me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Barrett licked his lips. “I’ve never met a woman who was able to resist me.”

  Oh, God. Spare me from King Narcissist. “Wow. I think you just reached a new level of disgusting with that somewhat rape-y statement.”

  With a roll of his eyes, Barrett replied, “Rest assured, sweetheart, if we did end up in the same bed, you would be the first woman I didn’t try to seduce.”

  Mary Anne appeared behind me. “I see you’re making yourself at home, Barrett,” she said, amusement vibrating in her voice.

  He grinned. “I figured if I was going to be stuck here for the next forty-eight hours, I should make sure it met my needs.”

  “I assume you find it satisfactory?”

  “Meh, I suppose it’ll have to do,” he teasingly replied as he climbed off the bed.

  “I’m sure you’ll manage.” Mary Anne then turned to me. “Senator Callahan just informed me that there’s a car waiting downstairs to take you to your apartment to pack the things you’ll need for the next two to three weeks. I would advise you to pack only the necessities. You’ll be living in close quarters on the bus, and most of the hotels we stay at on the road are nothing like this.”

  Telling a female to pack only the essentials is a contradiction in terms. Everything seemed essential. I was destined to fail at this task.

  Flipping through her leather-bound planner, Mary Anne asked, “You don’t have any pets to worry about, do you?”

  “No,” I replied sadly. I’d lost my Goldendoodle, Kennedy, in the breakup with Walt.

  Since he’d been Walt’s dog before I’d come along, it had only made sense that he kept him, but it particularly hurt because Kennedy was much closer to me. Funny that I missed Kennedy more than I did Walt. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that dogs were loyal and always happy to see you.

  Mary Anne bobbed her head. “Good. You were going to need to find a place to keep them if you had.”

  Once again, the severity of the commitment I’d just made hit me. I wasn’t used to an entirely vagabond lifestyle. Even when my parents were involved in missionary work, it was always during the summers and school holidays. We always had a home base somewhere in the States, depending on where my dad’s church was.

  I turned to Barrett. “I guess I better go get my things.”

  He flashed me a shit-eating grin. “Take your time. Don’t feel like you need to rush back.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from saying I didn’t need his encouragement. I was certainly in no hurry to get back to him and our imprisonment. Instead, I gave him a sickeningly sweet smile. “I’ll take as long as I want, dear.” I patted his cheek—hard. “Don’t feel like you need to give me your permission.”

  “All right, snookums.”

  We stood there in a silent faceoff for a few moments before I finally blew him a kiss. Barrett slowly shook his head at me as if I was some mutant life form standing in front of him.

  “Shall we go, Miss Monroe?” Mary Anne prompted.

  I snapped my gaze from Barrett’s to hers. “Yes, of course,” I replied.

  Without another word to Barrett, I followed Mary Anne to the door. Once we were alone in the hallway, she grinned at me. “I see Barrett’s met his match in you.”

  “We’re either going to be a tremendous help to the campaign or we’ll end up killing each other,” I replied as we stepped onto the elevator.

  “Or you might just grow to like each other.”

  As the elevator doors closed, my reply came with a very unladylike snort. “Don’t count on it.”

  BARRETT

  A few minutes after Addison left with Mary Anne, there was a knock at the door. When I peeked through the hole, a bewildered-looking Ty stared back at me. I unlocked the door and threw it open. “Dude, you disappoint me. No champagne to celebrate my prenuptial bliss?” I teased as I waved him inside my room.

  “You’re really engaged?” he questioned in a strangled voice.

  “I think you mean fake engaged.”

  Ty gave a frustrated grunt. “Whatever. Answer the question.”

  “Yes.”

  “Jesus,” he muttered as he dragged his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what’s harder to believe: that this is what your dad suggested, or that you actually said yes.”

  “It’s not like I had much choice.”

  “Did he play hardball with you over your job or your inheritance?”

  “Yeah, but turns out he was only bluffing.”

  “Then why did you say yes?”

  “He put it to me this way: if he lost the nomination or the presidency, would I be able to live with myself if I hadn’t done everything I could to help him to win?”

  Ty winced. “Emotional blackmail is the worst.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Okay, so you’re engaged.” Ty shook his head slowly back and forth. “Damn, I never thought I’d say those two words together.”

  “I never thought I’d hear it either.”

  A curious expression replaced Ty’s shocked one. “What’s the future Mrs. Callahan like?”

  “A total shrew,” I grumbled.

  Ty’s brows knitted together. “They fixed you up with some unfortunate-looking chick?”

  “No, it’s nothing like that. She’s actually hot.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “She’s an uptight, choirgirl priss with a mixture of feminazi thrown in.”

  “Damn. That’s bleak.”

  “Yeah. It is. I’m going to have to start drinking heavily to get through the next nine months with her.”

  “Surely she can’t be that bad.”

  I shuddered. “Trust me, she is, but the feeling is mutual. She pretty much loathes me

  as well.”

  “You two have only spent an afternoon together—how can you already hate each other?”

  “I don’t know, man. We’re just gifted that way.” I rolled my neck and shoulders, trying to relieve some of the tension the day’s events had caused. With the walls of the hotel room closing in on me, I knew I had to get out of there. “Listen, I gotta change and go work out.”

  Ty cocked his brows at me. “That’s not exactly what I thought you were going to say.”

  “Did you think I was going to ask you to assume a fake name and leave the country with me?”

  With a grin, Ty said, “No. After you just said you were going to have to drink heavily for the next few months, I figured you wanted me to take you somewhere to get crazy ass lit.”

  “While tempting, I’m stuck here for the weekend being tortured by getting to know my fake future wife. I don’t think I’d be very good at it if I were blitzed or hungover.”

  “You’ve managed to seal the deal many times when blitzed.”

  I snorted with disgust. “There will be no sealing the deal
with Addison.”

  “Why not? You said yourself she was hot.”

  “Yeah, she’s hot—the kind of infuriating hot that gets under your skin like a bad rash.” The kind of hot that drives you mad because you know no matter how hard you try, you can’t have her.

  “There are creams for that you know,” Ty teased.

  “Har fucking har.” I shrugged. “Nope. It’s just not happening.” I refrained from adding that I was pretty sure Charles Manson had a better chance of getting Addison in bed than me.

  Ty’s brown eyes widened. “Holy shit. Now I know what’s so wrong with her. You’ve finally found a woman you can’t charm the panties off.”

  “Oh please. I could have Addison flat on her back in no time.”

  “I bet you ten Franklins you couldn’t, and that’s what is freaking you out so much.”

  Damn Ty and his ability to see right through my bullshit. I was totally wigged out about meeting Addison; she was a complete one-eighty from what I’d assumed she’d be like. Since I was a teenager, women had practically thrown themselves at me. I’d never met a woman who didn’t warm up to me, least of all a woman who seemed utterly repulsed by the very sight of me. She hadn’t just bruised my ego—she’d fucking shredded it.

  I shook my head at Ty. “Look, the last thing Addison and I need in this fucked-up fake relationship is to add sex to the mix.”

  “You can say that now when you’re only a few hours into celibacy. A few weeks down the road and you’d be willing to bang Addison even if she looked like Jabba the Hut.” Ty smirked at me. “But that won’t matter, will it? Addison’s probably made it abundantly clear that she isn’t letting the Bear anywhere near her cave.”

  I fought the urge to punch his smug face. “You know what? Fuck you. I’m going to work out.”

  Ty’s laughter echoed after me as I stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door. “I’ll go change and join you,” he called.

  “Only if you’ll get off my dick about Addison,” I replied.

  “Fine. I’ll let it go.”

  “Then go change.”

  “See ya in five.”

  Although I could have benefited from pumping iron, I started straight for one of the treadmills. If I couldn’t literally run away, then I could at least do it figuratively. With some hardcore Jay Z in my ears, my feet started pounding out the miles.

  I had just finished a 5K when the notes of “Sexy Back” began playing on my phone. Yeah, go ahead and consider me a douchebag because I have “Sexy Back” as one of my ringtones—the one for when it was a chick calling. I jerked my earbuds out and glanced down at the screen.

  At my loud groan, Ty turned his head to peer curiously at me.

  “Fuuuuck. It’s Evangelina.”

  “Oh shit. What are you going to say?”

  “I know what I want to say—that I’m going to hop on the next plane and be buried in her pussy as soon as possible.”

  Ty tsked at me. “Sorry dude, you’re engaged now. No more pussy for you.”

  His dooming declaration felt the same as if he had punched me in the gut; my free hand swept to my abdomen and I groaned. Someone might as well have put handcuffs on me because I truly felt imprisoned by the prospect of the next nine sexless months. What if my dick never recovered? You know, like when you stop working out and your body goes to hell? Can a cock shrivel up from lack of use?

  “Answer the phone, B.”

  “It hurts, man,” I panted.

  “It’s going to hurt worse if you string her along and she comes back to bite you in the ass along the campaign trail.”

  Ugh. Ty was right. I had to end it ASAP, or it would be more than just myself facing the repercussions. Finally, I swiped the phone and brought it to my ear. “Callahan.”

  “Hey you. I just wanted to see if you were going to get back into the city tonight. I was going to have my roommate leave some wine chilling for us, and I’m going through my lingerie drawer. You still like me in pasties, don’t you?”

  At that moment, I didn’t give a flying fuck if my dad won the party’s nomination or became president. I didn’t care if I lost my job at The Callahan Corporation. All I—and, more importantly, the Bear—cared about was the epic case of blue balls I was starting to get. I’d spent weeks with Evangelina, and she was so fucking sexy and up for anything. God, there was nothing about the promise I’d just made that was palatable, except for giving my dad the best shot at the role he was made to fill. I’m so screwed.

  Ty cleared his throat. When I glanced back at him, he gave me a get the fuck on with it look. “Uh, yeah, er, it’s not looking good on me getting back to see you tonight.” Or any other night for that matter.

  There was a pause on the line. “You sound funny, babe. Is everything all right?”

  “Look, Evangelina, there’s never an easy way to say this, but…it’s just not going to work out between us.”

  “You’re breaking up with me?”

  “Uh, well, I’m not sure you could classify what we were doing as dating, but yeah, I guess so.”

  “Oh hell yes we were dating, you bastard! Has your feeble brain forgotten we were on a date a few hours ago?” she shrieked. She was getting close to hitting another one of those high Cs, and I fought the urge to take the phone away from my ear.

  “We were screwing a few hours ago. Whether or not we were dating is a matter of linguistics.”

  “I hope your dick rots off, you son of a bitch.” Considering I wouldn’t be having sex for a very long time, Evangelina might get what she wished for.

  “I really am sorry.” That was the truth—at least it was for the Bear. After all, he was the one who was really going to end up missing her. It wasn’t like I saw some future for Evangelina and me. I never saw a future past coming once or twice with any of the chicks I banged.

  “Fuck you!” Evangelina shouted before hanging up on me.

  Yep. That pretty much summed it up. Fuck me, and fuck my life.

  BARRETT

  After my workout, I headed back upstairs to grab a quick shower. Once he saw me safely inside the suite, Ty went down the hall to his room. I stripped off my gym clothes and stepped into the shower, my aching muscles protesting under the scorching hot water.

  As I stood under the showerhead, my mind desperately tried to process the implications of the day. I’d gone from single and carefree to engaged and shackled by responsibility in just a few hours. Did most men experience a choking feeling and sinking dread when they decided to get married?

  Closing my eyes, I envisioned Addison as she had stood before me earlier. The way she’d used her red, pouty lips to verbally annihilate me. The way she’d crossed her arms defiantly under her round, perfect tits. Damn, she was even hotter when she was angry.

  Almost on autopilot, my hand slid down my abdomen to grip my cock, and then, even under the scalding water, I shivered in revulsion. I snatched my hand back and eyed it with contempt. How could I possibly think of jerking off to Addison?

  With a grunt of frustration, I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. After drying off, I threw on a clean pair of jeans and a button-down shirt I had in my luggage. Leaving my hair wet, I walked barefoot out of the bedroom and into the living room.

  Although I should have been checking work emails or returning calls, I knew there was no way in hell I’d be able to concentrate. So, I flopped down on the couch and turned the television on to Sports Universe where there was a replay of an old Yankees game. Four innings later, my phone rang, interrupting a two-run homer. After throwing an apprehensive glance at the screen, fearing it might be Evangelina, I exhaled a relieved breath since it was Mary Anne.

  “Can’t get enough of me, can you?” I jokingly answered.

  Mary Anne laughed into the phone. “It’s always about business, I assure you.”

  “What do you want to torture me with now?”

  “I’m sending down a questionnaire for you and Addison to complete together as a me
ans of getting to know each other.”

  “Sounds thrilling,” I replied, sarcasm lacing my voice.

  There was a pause on the line before Mary Anne sighed. “You need to get your head out of your ass on this one, Barrett.”

  “You sound like my dad.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Fine, fine. I can’t wait to sit down with the little woman.”

  “You’re impossible.”

  “I certainly try.”

  “Just answer the door for the messenger.”

  “Anything for you, Mary Anne.”

  I’d barely hung up with her when a knock came at the door. Once again, some nameless staffer gave me a toothy smile as he handed me a large manila envelope.

  “Thanks,” I replied.

  After flipping open the folder and skimming the contents, I grimaced. “Oh hell,” I grumbled before tossing the file on the table. I couldn’t look at it for another minute without a beer.

  I flipped open the fridge and smiled at the sight of my beloved Heinekens sitting on the top shelf. As I popped the top, I vowed to make sure Mary Anne got a raise. The woman was perfection when it came to taking care of not only my father, but me as well. If she were twenty years younger, I might’ve entertained the idea of marrying her—well, you know, if I was actually the marrying kind.

  After crashing on the couch, I started flipping through the channels before settling on ESPN. I’d just drained my second beer when I heard the buzz of the keycard being activated. Since I wasn’t totally without a gentlemanly side, I rose off the couch to help Addison.

  She came through the door ass first as she pulled two rolling suitcases behind her. Just as I reached to help her, she whirled around, nailing my junk with her elbow. Bending over at the waist, I groaned in agony as I cupped myself.

  “Fuck!” I grunted out.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Addison cried, and I jerked my head up to look at her. She mistook my mask of pain for anger because she quickly added, “I swear, I didn’t know you were there.”